Number of Polish Catholics falls by two million in the last ten years

Poland's reputation as a European bastion of the Catholic Church is under threat after new figures revealed a dramatic decline in church going.

An official survey by the Polish Catholic church found that in the last 10 years the number attending Sunday mass has fallen by around two million, and that on average only 39 per cent of the population now attend church: the first time the figure has been below 40 per cent since 1980.

The drop was described as "significant" by Father Wojciech Sadlon, director of the Catholic Church Institute of Statistics, the body that carried out the research.

It comes despite the Church still holding a prominent and powerful place in a society in which many people still regard Catholicism as an essential aspect of being Polish.

But Poland's Catholic Church has endured a torrid tame of late. A succession of child sex abuse scandals, and the Church's apparently clumsy response to the scandals, have shredded its once revered reputation, and put it on the defensive.

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It has also faced demands for cuts to its state funding, and that the ubiquitous crucifix found on the walls of public buildings such as schools and hospitals be removed on the grounds it blurs the division between church and state.

Church-going, it appears, is also suffering from the appeals of modern life.

"Lifestyles on Sundays have changed," explained Father Sadlon. "Faith is losing out to other 'offers' such as people spending time with friends and family, as well as just sitting in front of the TV as an individual.

"People who often came to church were motivated by an attachment to tradition and a culture given to them by their family, but this is no longer enough to sustain them and so they gradually cease to attend," he added.

To rub salt into the Polish Church's wounds, the decline in church attendance in Poland contrasts with a resurgence in church going in Spain and Italy where factors such as the appeal of Pope Francis have given Catholicism a new zeal.